Wednesday’s announcement that Brewin Dolphin are to back the RORC’s Commodores’ Cup for the next three events (or six years) comes as welcome news, following the expiry of Rolex’s sponsorship after the 2010 event.
The keen eyed will notice that Brewin Dolphin is yet another investment management company to back sailing following Artemis, Aberdeen Asset Management and Skandia. In fact Brewen Dolphin’s involvement with sailing is not new. They have been involved in yachting event sponsorship for 12 years, most notably with the Scottish Series, although, as their CEO Jamie Matheson points out, their backing the RORC’s amateur team racing event will coincide with their 250th anniversary next year.
“It is not completely alien territory,” said Matheson. “We went into it because the participants are our target audience. We are putting something into the sport. It also gives us brand awareness in a bigger sense. Coming into something like the Commodores’ Cup, we are simply turning up the volume. It is the sort of sport that is largely amateur, funded by people with some disposable investable wealth, although the marine industry has absorbed a lot of it! That is our target audience.”
According to the RORC’s CEO Eddie Warden Owen, the sponsorship means that the future of the Commodores’ Cup is secure. “A lot of people were really worried that with the demise of Rolex’s previous sponsorship that the event would just wither away. We have been talking to Brewin Dolphin for quite some time. They are into sailing and it is an opportunity for them to build on the sailing sponsorship that they know and like and they will be a really good supporter of the event.”
A preliminary Notice of Race was published in May indicating welcome changes to the rating bands. In the past there has been an attempt to separate

MEMBERSplease log in to read the full article.

Password sharing is not permitted and is in breach of our Terms of Use